Glauce | Definition, meaning & more | Collins Dictionary Definitions noun Greek mythology 1. the second bride of Jason , murdered on her wedding day by Medea , whom Jason had deserted 2. a sea nymph , one of the Nereids Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers HYMENAEUS (Hymenaios) - Greek God of Weddings & the Bridal Hymn Eros, Hebe, Heracles and Hymenaeus, Athenian red-figure pyxis C5th B.C., University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology HYMENAIOS (Hymenaeus) was the god of weddings or, more specifically, of the wedding hymn sung by the bride's train as she was escorted to the house of the groom. Hymenaios was numbered amongst the Erotes, the youthful, winged gods of love. As a god of song he was usually described as a son of Apollon and one of the Mousai (Muses). Hymenaios is depicted in Greek art as a winged child carrying a bridal torch in his hand.

FAMILY OF HYMENAEUS [1.1] KLEIO (Licymnius Frag 768A) [1.2] MAGNES (Antoninus Liberalis 23) [1.3] OURANIA (Nonnus Dionysiaca33.64) [2.1] DIONYSOS (Seneca Medea 110) ENCYCLOPEDIA HYMEN or HYMENAEUS (Hymên or Hymenaios), the god of marriage, was conceived as a handsome youth, and invoked in the hymeneal or bridal song. The names originally designated the bridal song itself, which was subsequently personified. The first trace of this personification occurs in Euripides (Troad. 311), or perhaps in Sappho ( Fragm. 73, p. 80, ed. Neue). The poetical origin of the god Hymen or Hymenaeus is also implied in the fact of his being described as the son of Apollo and a Muse, either Calliope, Urania, or Terpsichore. (Catull. lxi. 2; Nonn.

Dionys. xxxiii. 67; Schol. Vatic. ad Eurip. Rhes. 895, ed. Dindorf; Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. iv. 313; Alciphron, Epist. i. 13; Tzetz. Chil. xiii. 599.) Hence he is mentioned along with the sons of the Muses, Linus and Ialemus, and with Orpheus. Others describe him only as the favourite of Apollo or Thamyris, and call him a son of Magnes and Calliope, or of Dionysus and Aphrodite. (Suid. s. v. Thamurris; Anton. Lib. 23; Serv. ad Aen. iv. 127, ad Virg. Eclog. viii. 30.) The ancient traditions, instead of regarding the god as a personification of the hymeneal song, speak of him as originally a mortal, respecting whom various legends were related.

According to an Argive tradition, Hymenaeus was a youth of Argos, who, while sailing along the coast of Attica, delivered a number of Attic maidens from the violence of some Pelasgian pirates, and was afterwards praised by them in their bridal songs, which were called, after him, hymeneal songs. (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1157.) The Attic legends described him as a youth of such delicate beauty, that he might be taken for a girl. He fell in love with a maiden, who refused to listen to him; but in the disguise of a girl he followed her to Eleusis to the festival of Demeter. He, together with the other girls, was carried off by robbers into a distant and desolate country. On their landing, the robbers laid down to sleep, and were killed by Hymenaeus, who now returned to Athens, requesting the citizens to give him his beloved in marriage, if he restored to them the maidens who had been carried off by the robbers. His request was granted, and his marriage was extremely happy. For this reason he was invoked in the hymeneal songs. (Serv. ad Aen.

i. 655, ad Virg. Eclog. viii. 30.) According to others he was a youth, and was killed by the breaking down of his house on his wedding-day whence he was afterwards invoked in bridal songs, in order to be propitiated (Serv. l. c.); and some related that at the wedding of Dionysus and Ariadne he sang the bridal hymn, but lost his voice (Serv. l. c.; comp. Scriptor Rerum Mythic. pp. 26, 148, 229; Ov. Met. ii. 683, who makes him a son of Argus and Perimele; Terent. Adelph. v. 7, 8.) According to the Orphic legends, the deceased Hymenaeus was called to life again by Asclepius. (Apollod. iii. 10. § 3.) He is represented in works of art as a youth, but taller and with a more serious expression than Eros, and carrying in his hand a bridal torch. Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES Sappho, Fragment 111 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric I) (Greek lyric C6th B.C.) : "On high the roof--Hymenaios (Hymenaeus)!--rise up, you carpenters--Hymenaios! the bridegroom is coming." Licymnius, Fragment 768a (from Philodemus, On Piety) (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric V) (Greek lyric C4th B.C.) : "Kleio (Clio) the Mousa (Muse) fell in love with a man, according to Likymnios (Licymnius), and some think Hymenaios (Hymenaeus) was her son." Euripides, Trojan Women 310 ff (trans. Vellacott) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : "Kassandra (Cassandra) [lamenting the fall of Troy and the enslavement of the Trojan Women] : Raise the torch and fling the flame! Flood the walls with holy light!

Worship the Almighty Hymen (Hymenaeus), God of Marriage! Agamemnon, master of my maiden flesh, King of Argos, take me! Heaven's blessing falls on me and falls on you. Hear our cry of worship, Hymen, God of Marriage! Mother [Hekabe, Hecuba], since you crouch and cry weak with tears and loud with grief for my dear dead city and my murdered father, I have brought them--torches for my wedding-night, leaping light and dancing flame, in your honour, Hymen, God of hot desire! Queen of Darkness, send the gleam you love to lend to the ritual blessing of the wedded virgin! Dancers, come! Loose your leaping feet, wild with wine of ecstasy! Glorify my father's happy fate! God Apollon, lead this holy ritual dance! In your temple-court, under your immortal laurel-tree, I your priestess call on you! Hymen, mighty god, Hymen, hear! Come and dance, mother, dance with me; charm the Powers with lucky words, loudly chant your daughter's wedding-song!

Wildly whirl and turn in purest ecstasy! Maids of Troy, wear your brightest gowns : come, and sing my wedding-song, hail the lover Eros (Love) and Fate appoint for me!" Aristophanes, Birds 1720 (trans. O'Neill) (Greek comedy C5th to 4th B.C.) : "[A wedding song :] Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaios (Hymenaeus)! Rosy Eros (Love) with the golden wings held the reins and guided the chariot; 'twas he, who presided over the union of Zeus and the fortunate Hera. Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaios!" Aristophanes, Peace 1316 ff : "[An ancient Greek wedding song (hymenaios) :] Trygaios (Trygaeus) : Come, wife, to the fields and seek, my beauty, to brighten and enliven my nights. Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaios (Hymenaeus)! Leader of the Chorus (singing) : Oh! thrice happy man, who so well deserve your good fortune! Oh!

Hymen! oh oh! Hymenaios! Chorus (singing) : Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaios! Trygaios (singing) : What shall we do to her? Chorus (singing) : What shall we do to her? Trygaios (singing) : We will gather her kisses. Chorus (singing) : We will gather her kisses. Leader of the Chorus (singing) : But come, comrades, we who are in the first row, let us pick up the bridegroom and carry him in triumph. Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaios! Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaios! Trygaios (singing) : You shall have a fine house, no cares and the finest of figs. Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaios! Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaios! Leader of the Chorus (singing) : The bridegroom's fig is great and thick; the bride's very soft and tender.

Trygaios (singing) : While eating and drinking deep draughts of wine, continue to repeat: Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaios! Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaios, Hail, hail, my friends. All who come with me shall have cakes galore." Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 1158 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) : "[The Phaiakes (Phaeacians) celebrate the wedding of Iason (Jason) and Medea :] Then their temples wreathed with leafy twigs, they sang the hymneia-song in unison outside the bridal chamber to the clear notes of Orpheus' lyre." Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 23 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Magnes [King of Magnesia] . . . had a son, Hymenaios (Hymenaeus), admired by all around for his appearance.

Apollon saw the lad and fell in love with him and would not leave the house of Magnes." Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 14. 295 ff (trans. Way) (Greek epic C4th A.D.) : "[Hekabe (Hecuba) of Troy laments the sacrificial marriage of her daughter Polyxena to the ghost of Akhilleus (Achilles) :] ‘They have thrust thee away, when near was Hymenaios' (Hymenaeus') hymn, from thine espousals.’" Philostratus the Younger, Imagines 10 (trans. Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C3rd A.D.) : "Do the light of the torches, and the marriage hymn (hymenaios), the sound of the flutes and the twanging of the lyre and the rhythmic motion of the dancers attract your attention? You see also the women visible through the vestibules as they marvel and all but shout for joy. This is a marriage, my boy, the first gathering of the bridal party, and the bridegrooms are bringing their brides." [N.B.

The wedding-hymn (hymenaios) is not personified here, but the passage demonstrates its place within the marriage ceremony.] Ovid, Metamorphoses 4. 757 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "To his heart he [Perseus] took Andromeda, undowered, she herself his valour‘s prize. With waving torches Amor (Love) [Eros] and Hymenaeus lead the wedding, full and fat the perfumed fires of incense burn and garlands deck the beams." Ovid, Metamorphoses 6. 428 ff : "When they [the doomed couple Tereus and Procne] were married, Juno [Hera] was not there to bless the rite, nor Hymenaeus nor the Gratia (Grace) [Kharis]. The Eumenides [Erinyes, Furies] held the torches, torches seized from mourners' hands; the Eumenides made their bed." Ovid, Metamorphoses 9.

764 ff : "[Iphis, a girl disguised as a man, is about to marry the women she loves :] ‘Aye me why should Hymenaeus, the Wedding-god [Hymenaios (Hymenaeus)], preside without a groom, with both of us a bride!’ She said no more. The other girl, in love was eager, prayed the Wedding-god to haste . . . The morning's radiance revealed the world; Venus [Aphrodite], Juno [Hera] and Hymenaeus joined to bless the wedding rite; their love was sanctified, and Iphis gained Ianthe, groom and bride. Thence Hymenaeus came, in saffron mantle clad, at Orpheus' summons through the boundless sky to Thessaly, but vain the summons proved. True he was present, but no hallowed words he brought nor happy smiles nor lucky sign; even the torch he held sputtered throughout with smarting smoke, and caught no living flame for all his brandishing.

The ill-starred rite led to a grimmer end [the sudden death of Orpheus' wife Eurydice]." Ovid, Heroides 2. 33 ff (trans. Showerman) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "[Phyllis, forsaken by Demophoon, laments :] ‘Where now the bond of Hymenaeus promised for years of life together--promise that was my warrant and surety for the wedded state?’" Ovid, Heroides 6. 43 ff : "[Hypsipyle forsaken by Jason laments :] ‘Alas! where is the faith that was promised me? Where the bonds of wedlock, and the marriage torch? . . . Juno [Hera] was there to join us when we were wed, and Hymen, his temples bound with wreaths. And yet neither Juno nor Hymen [Hymenaios], but gloomy Erinys (Fury), stained with blood, carried before me the unhallowed torch.’" [N.B.

The Erinys carries the wedding torch in place of Hymen because the marriage was doomed.] Ovid, Heroides 9. 133 ff : "Iole, the daughter of Eurytus, and Aonian Alcides [Herakles] will be basely joined in shameful bonds of Hymen [Hymenaios]." Ovid, Heroides 11. 101 ff : "[Kanake (Canace), who has committed incest with her brother, and whose father has sent a sword to end her life, laments :] ‘Take away afar, deluded Hymenaeus, thy wedding-torches, and fly with frightened foot from these nefarious halls! Bring for me the torches ye bear, Erinyes (Fury) dark, and let my funeral pyre blaze bright from the fires ye give! Wed happily under a better fate, O my sisters.’" Ovid, Heroides 12.

137 ff : "[Medea witnesses the marriage of Iason (Jason) and Kreousa (Creusa) :] ‘All suddenly, there came to my ears the chant of Hymen, and to my eyes the gleam of blazing torches, and the pipe poured forth its notes, for you a wedding-strain . . . The throng pressed eagerly on, crying "Hymen, O Hymenaeus!" in full chorus.’" Ovid, Heroides 14. 25 ff : "[The wedding of the husband-murdering Danaides :] On every side shine bright the lamps girt round with gold; unholy incense is scattered on unwilling altar-fires; the crowd cry ‘Hymen, Hymenaeus!’ The god shuns their cry; Jove's [Zeus'] very consort [Hera] has withdrawn from the city of her choice!" [N.B. Hymenaios and Hera, the divinities of marriage, shun the doomed wedding.] Ovid, Heroides 21.

155 ff : "[The bride Kydippe (Cydippe), afflicted with illness, fails three times to attend her own appointed wedding day :] ‘For why is it that, as oft as the sacraments for marriage are made ready, so oft the limbs of the bride-to-be sink down in languor? Thrice now has Hymenaeus come to the altars reared for me and fled, turning his back upon the threshold of my wedding-chamber; the lights so oft replenished by his lazy hand scarce rise again, scarce does he keep the torch alight by waving it. Oft does the perfume distil from his wreathèd locks, and the mantle he sweeps along is splendid with much saffron. When he has touched the threshold, and sees tears and dread of death, and much that is far removed from the ways he keeps, with his own hand he tears the garlands from his brow and casts them forth, and dries the dense balsam from his glistening locks; he shames to stand forth glad in a gloomy throng, and the blush that was in his mantle passes to his cheeks.’" Seneca, Medea 56 ff (trans.

Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) : "[A wedding hymn or epithalamium or hymenaios :] May the high gods who rule over heaven, and thy who rule the sea, with gracious divinity attend on our princes' marriage, amid the people's solemn applause. [To the gods of marriage :] First to the sceptre-bearing Thunderers [Zeus and Hera] let the bull with white-shining hide offer his high-raised neck. Lucina [Eileithyia or Hera] let a heifer appease, snow-white, untouched by the yoke; and let her [Aphrodite] who restrains the bloody hands of rough Mars [Ares], who brings peace to warring nations and holds plenty in her rich horn, mild goddess, be given a tender victim. And do thou [Hymenaios (Hymenaeus)], who the torches of lawful marriage attendest, dissipating the night with propitious hand, hither come, reeling with drunken footstep, binding thy temples with garlands of roses.

And thou star [Hesperos], forerunner of twilight, who returnest ever slowly for lovers--thee, mothers, thee, brides eagerly await, to see the full soon thy bright beams scattering . . . Sport, youths, with free banter and jesting; let your songs ring out, O youths, in responsive cadence; rarely against our lords is unrebuked licence given. Comely, noble scion [Hymenaios] of Lyaeus [Dionysos] the thyrsus-bearer, now is the time to light thy torch of frayed pinewood; toss on high the ritual fire with languishing fingers." Seneca, Medea 116 : "Upon my ears has sounded the marriage-hymn (hymenaeus)." Seneca, Medea 299 : "But the marriage rites summon me, summons the festal day to pray to Hymenaeus." Seneca, Oedipus 497 ff : "The new-made bride [Ariadne] is led to the lofty heavens [by Dionysos]; Phoebus [Apollon] a stately anthem sings . . .

and twin Cupides [Eros and either Anteros or Hymenaeus] brandish their torches." Statius, Thebaid 5. 65 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "[Aphrodite placed a curse on the island of Lemnos when they spurned her worship :] Straightway fled ye from Lemnos, ye tender Amores (Loves) [Erotes] : Hymen [Hymenaios] fell mute and turned his torch to earth; chill neglect came o'er the lawful couch , no nightly return of joy was there, no slumber in the beloved embrace." Statius, Silvae 1. 2. 238 (trans. Mozley) (Roman poetry C1st A.D.) : "[At a wedding :] Leaning against the portal hath Hymen sought to utter a new song in honour of their marriage, and to gladden the poet's heart. Juno [Hera] brings the holy bonds, and Concordia (Harmony) [Harmonia] marks the union with twofold torch." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 16. 289 ff (trans.

Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "[Wedding song at the nuptials of Dionysos and Nikaia (Nicaea) :] Pan's following voice; dancing over the ground the pipes tootled out loudly ‘Hymen Hymenaios’; the forest fire resounded, ‘A blessing on this bridal.’" Nonnus, Dionysiaca 24. 261 ff : "[Aphrodite neglected her duties in love when she was competing with Athena in a weaving contest :] Then the harp made no lovely music, the syrinx did not sound, the clear pipes did not sing in clear tones Hymen Hymenaios (Hymenaeus) the marriage-tune." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 33. 64 ff : "She [Aphrodite] found him [Eros (Love)] on the golden top of Olympos, shooting the nectar-drops from a cup [i.e. playing cottabus, a game in which wine was thrown out of a cup at a mark].

Beside him stood Hymenaios (Hymenaeus), his fair-haired playfellow in the dainty game. He had put up as a prize for the victor something clever made by his haughty mother Ourania (Urania) [the Mousa (Muse)], who knew all the courses of the stars, a revolving globe like the speckled form of Argos; winged Eros had taken and put up a round golden necklace which belonged to his mother sea-born Aphrodite, a shining glorious work of art, as a prize of victory. A large silver basin stood for their game, and the shooting mark before them was a statue of Hebe shown in the middle pouring the wine. The umpire in the game was Ganymedes, cupbearer of Kronides (Cronides) [Zeus], holding the garland. Lots were cast for the shots of unmixed wine, with varied movements of the fingers [i.e. a finger game similar to ‘rock, paper, scissors’ played to determine who goes first]: these they held out, these they pressed upon the root of the hand closely joined together. A charming match it was between them.

Daintyhair Hymenaios drew the first try. He took the cup, and shot the flying nectar-drop high in the air over the basin; but he offered no prayer then to his mother the Mousa (Muse): darting from the cup the dew went scattering high through the air, but the leaping drops turned aside and swerved fell back about the face of the statue so as to touch the top of the head without a sound. Second, crafty Eros took hold of the lovely cup in a masterly way, and secretly in his heart prayed to Kyprogeneia (Cyprogenea) [Aphrodite]; then with a steady eye on the mark, he shot the liquid into the distance--the dewy nectar went straight, unswerving, and curved round until it fell from the air upon the forehead above the temple with a loud plop. The elegant statue rang, and the basin echoed the sound of victory for the golden son of Kyprogeneia. Ganymedes laughing handed the dainty garland to Eros. Quickly he picked up the beautiful necklace and lifted the globe, and kept the two prizes of their cleverdrop game.

Bold Eros went skipping and dancing for joy and turned a somersault, and tried often to pull his rival's hands from his sorrowful face." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 43. 3 : "[Poseidon and Dionysos compete for the hand of Beroe in marriage :] Lusty Hymenaios (Hymenaeus) was he that kindled the quarrel for Earthshaker [Poseidon] and Dionysos--he danced into the battle, holding the bronze pike of Amyklaian (Amyclaean) Aphrodite, while he droned a tune of war on a Phrygian hoboy." SOURCES Greek Lyric I Sappho, Fragments - Greek Lyric C6th B.C. Greek Lyric V Licymnius, Fragments - Greek Lyric C4th B.C. Euripides, Trojan Women - Greek Tragedy C5th B.C. Aristophanes, Birds - Greek Comedy C5th - 4th B.C. Aristophanes, Peace - Greek Comedy C5th - 4th B.C.

Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica - Greek Epic C3rd B.C. Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D. Summary of the Medea Tragedy by Euripides Summary of the Medea Tragedy by Euripides Summary of the Medea Tragedy by Euripides Medea by Eugène Ferdinand Victor Delacroix (1862). Public Domain. Courtesy of Wikipedia. By N.S. Gill Updated August 17, 2016. As we learn from the nurse in the opening scene, in Euripides ' Medea (which was first produced 431 B.C. when it only won third prize), Medea and Jason have lived together as husband and wife in Corinth . They have lived there ever since fleeing, first Medea's homeland of Colchis, where Medea betrayed her father King Aaetes, and then Iolcos , where Medea was instrumental in the death of King Pelias.

When Jason landed at Colchis, where King Pelias had sent him to capture the magical golden fleece , Medea saw and fell in love with him, and so, despite her father's desire to retain possession of the precious object, helped the handsome young hero. Medea and Jason have had two children during their life together, but their domestic arrangement is about to end. At the opening of Euripides' Medea, Jason and his father-in-law-to-be, Creon, say Medea and her children must leave the country so that Jason may marry Creon's daughter Glauce in peace. Medea is blamed for her own fate, being told that if she hadn't behaved as a jealous, possessive woman, she could have remained in Corinth. continue reading below our video Test Your General Science Knowledge Medea asks for and is granted one day's reprieve, but King Creon was right to be fearful. During that one day's time Medea confronts Jason, who blames Medea's banishment on her own temper, rubbing salt into the wound. Medea reminds Jason of what she has sacrificed for him and what evil she has done on his behalf.

She reminds him that since she is from Colchis and is, therefore, a foreigner in Greece, without a Greek mate, she will not be welcome elsewhere. Jason tells Medea that he has given her enough already, but that he will recommend her to the care of his friends (and he has many as witnessed by the gathering of the Argonauts). Jason's friends need not be bothered, as it turns out, since Aegeus of Athens arrives and agrees that Medea may find refuge with him. With her future assured, Medea turns to other matters. Medea is a witch. Jason knows this, as do Creon and Glauce, but Medea seemed appeased, so when she presents a wedding gift to Glauce of a dress and crown, Glauce accepts them. The theme is familiar from the death of Hercules. When Glauce puts on the robe it burns her flesh. Unlike Hercules , she dies. Creon dies, too, trying to help his daughter. So far the motives and reactions seem understandable, but then Medea does the unspeakable. She murders her own two children.

Her revenge comes when she witnesses Jason's horror as she flies off to Athens in the chariot of the sun god Helios (Hyperion), her ancestor. Elsewhere on the Web: Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome | Page 118 Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome Page: 118 Arrival at Crete .—With heartfelt joy and gladness they proceeded on their homeward voyage, and after some days arrived at the island of Crete , where they purposed to furnish themselves with fresh provisions and water. Their landing, however, was opposed by a terrible giant who guarded the island against all intruders. This giant, whose name was Talus, was the last of the Brazen race, and being formed of brass, was invulnerable, except in his right ankle, where there was a sinew of flesh and a vein of blood. As he saw the Argo [230]nearing the coast, he hurled huge rocks at her, which would inevitably have sunk the vessel had not the crew beat a hasty retreat.

Although sadly in want of food and water, the Argonauts had decided to proceed on their journey rather than face so powerful an opponent, when Medea came forward and assured them that if they would trust to her she would destroy the giant. Enveloped in the folds of a rich purple mantle, she stepped on deck, and after invoking the aid of the Fates, uttered a magic incantation, which had the effect of throwing Talus into a deep sleep. He stretched himself at full length upon the ground, and in doing so grazed his vulnerable ankle against the point of a sharp rock, whereupon a mighty stream of blood gushed forth from the wound. Awakened by the pain, he tried to rise, but in vain, and with a mighty groan of anguish the giant fell dead, and his enormous body rolled heavily over into the deep. The heroes being now able to land, provisioned their vessel, after which they resumed their homeward voyage.

Arrival at Iolcus .—After a terrible night of storm and darkness they passed the island of Ægina, and at length reached in safety the port of Iolcus , where the recital of their numerous adventures and hair-breadth escapes was listened to with wondering admiration by their fellow-countrymen. The Argo was consecrated to Poseidon , and was carefully preserved for many generations till no vestige of it remained, when it was placed in the heavens as a brilliant constellation. On his arrival at Iolcus , Jason conducted his beautiful bride to the palace of his uncle Pelias , taking with him the Golden Fleece , for the sake of which this perilous expedition had been undertaken. But the old king, who had never expected that Jason would return alive, basely refused to fulfil his part of the compact, and declined to abdicate the throne. [231] Indignant at the wrongs of her husband, Medea avenged them in a most shocking manner. She made friends with the daughters of the king, and feigned great interest in all their concerns.

Having gained their confidence, she informed them, that among her numerous magic arts, she possessed the power of restoring to the aged all the vigour and strength of youth, and in order to give them a convincing proof of the truth of her assertion, she cut up an old ram, which she boiled in a cauldron, whereupon, after uttering various mystic incantations, there came forth from the vessel a beautiful young lamb. She then assured them, that in a similar manner they could restore to their old father his former youthful frame and vigour. The fond and credulous daughters of Pelias lent an all too willing ear to the wicked sorceress, and thus the old king perished at the hands of his innocent children. Death of Jason .—Medea and Jason now fled to Corinth , where at length they found, for a time, peace and tranquillity, their happiness being completed by the birth of three children. As time passed on, however, and Medea began to lose the beauty which had won the love of her husband, he grew weary of her, and became attracted by the youthful charms of Glauce , the beautiful daughter of Creon , king of Corinth .

Jason had obtained her father's consent to their union, and the wedding-day was already fixed, before he disclosed to Medea the treachery which he meditated against her. He used all his persuasive powers in order to induce her to consent to his union with Glauce , assuring her that his affection had in no way diminished, but that for the sake of the advantages which would thereby accrue to their children, he had decided on forming this alliance with the royal house. Though justly enraged at his deceitful conduct, Medea dissembled her wrath, and, feigning to be satisfied with this explanation, sent, as a wedding-gift to her rival, a magnificent robe of cloth-of-gold. This robe was imbued with a deadly [232]poison which penetrated to the flesh and bone of the wearer, and burned them as though with a consuming fire. Pleased with the beauty and costliness of the garment, the unsuspecting Glauce lost no time in donning it; but no sooner had she done so than the fell poison began to take effect. In vain she tried to tear the robe away; it defied all efforts to be removed, and after horrible and protracted sufferings, she expired.

Maddened at the loss of her husband's love Medea next put to death her three sons, and when Jason , thirsting for revenge, left the chamber of his dead bride, and flew to his own house in search of Medea , the ghastly spectacle of his murdered children met his view. He rushed frantically to seek the murderess, but nowhere could she be found. At length, hearing a sound above his head, he looked up, and beheld Medea gliding through the air in a golden chariot drawn by dragons. << < Medea Summary | GradeSaver Medea Summary Buy Study Guide Greek audiences would have known the story of the ill-fated marriage between Jason , hero of the Golden Fleece, and Medea , barbarian witch and princess of Colchis. The modern reader, to fully understand the events of Medea, needs to be familiar with the legends and myths on which the play is based. Medea was of a people at the far edge of the Black Sea; for the Greeks of Euripides ' time, this was the edge of the known world. She was a powerful sorceress, princess of Colchis, and a granddaughter of the sun god Helias.

Jason, a great Greek hero and captain of the Argonauts, led his crew to Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece. King Aeetes, lord of Colchis and Medea's father, kept the Fleece under guard. A sorcerer himself, he was a formidable opponent. This legend takes place quite early in the chronology of Greek myth. The story is set after the ascent of Zeus, King of the gods, but is still near the beginning of his reign; Helias, the ancient sun god before Apollo's coming, is Medea's grandfather. Jason's voyage with the Argonauts predates the Trojan War, and represents the first naval assault by the Greeks against an Eastern people. The traps set by Aeetes made the Golden Fleece all but impossible to obtain. By Medea's aid, Jason overcame these obstacles, and Medea herself killed the giant serpent that guarded the Fleece. Then, to buy time during their escape, Medea killed her own brother and tossed the pieces of his corpse behind the Argo as they sailed for Greece.

Her father, grief-stricken by his son's death and his daughter's treachery, had to slow his pursuit of the Argo so he could collect the pieces of his son's body for burial. Medea and Jason returned to his hereditary kingdom of Iolcus. Jason's father had died, and his uncle Pelias sat, without right, on the throne. Medea, to help Jason, convinced Pelias' daughters that she knew a way to restore the old king's youth. He would have to be killed, cut into pieces, and then put together and restored to youth by Medea's magic. The unwitting daughters did as Medea asked, but the sorceress then explained that she couldn't really bring Pelias back to life. Rather than win Jason his throne, this move forced Jason, Medea, and their children into exile. Finally, they settled in Corinth, where Jason eventually took a new bride. The action of the play begins here, soon after Medea learns of Jason's treachery. A Nurse enters, speaking of the sorrows facing Medea's family. She is joined by the Tutor and the children; they discuss Jason's betrayal of Medea.

The Nurse fears for everyone's safety: she knows the violence of Medea's heart. The Tutor brings the children back into the house. The Chorus of Corinthian women enters, full of sympathy for Medea. They ask the Nurse to bring Medea out so that they might comfort her; the unfortunate woman's cries can be heard even outside the house. The Nurse complies. Medea emerges from her home, bewailing the harshness with which Fate handles women. She announces her intention to seek revenge. She asks the Chorus, as follow women, to aid her by keeping silent. The Chorus vows. Creon (not to be confused with the Creon of Sophocles' Theban cycle), king of Corinth and Jason's new father-in-law, enters and tells Medea that she is banished. She and her children must leave Corinth immediately. Medea begs for mercy, and she is granted a reprieve of one day. The old king leaves, and Medea tells the Chorus that one day is all she needs to get her revenge. Jason enters, condescending and smug. He scolds Medea for her loose tongue, telling her that her exile is her own fault.

Husband and wife bicker bitterly, Medea accusing Jason of cowardice, reminding him of all that she has done for him, and condemning him for his faithlessness. Jason rationalizes all of his actions, with neatly enumerated arguments. Although he seems to have convinced himself, to most audience members Jason comes off as smug and spineless. He offers Medea money and aid in her exile, but she proudly refuses. Jason exits. Aegeus , king of Athens and old friend of Medea's, enters. Aegeus is childless. Medea tells him of her problems, and asks for safe haven in Athens. She offers to help him to have a child; she has thorough knowledge of drugs and medicines. Aegeus eagerly agrees. If Medea can reach Athens, he will protect her. Medea makes the old king vow by all the gods. With her security certain, Medea tells the Chorus of her plans. She will kill Jason's new bride and father-in-law by the aid of poisoned gifts. To make her revenge complete, she will kill her children to wound Jason and to protect them from counter-revenge by Creon's allies and friends.

Many scholars now believe that the murder of Medea's children was Euripides' addition to the myth; in older versions, the children were killed by Creon's friends in revenge for the death of the king and princess. The Chorus begs Medea to reconsider these plans, but Medea insists that her revenge must be complete. Jason enters again, and Medea adapts a conciliatory tone. She begs him to allow the children to stay in Corinth. She also has the children bring gifts to the Corinthian princess. Jason is pleased by this change of heart. The Tutor soon returns with the children, telling Medea that the gifts have been received. Medea then waits anxiously for news from the palace. She speaks lovingly to her children, in a scene that is both moving and chilling, even as she steels herself so that she can kill them. She has a moment of hesitation, but she overcomes it. There is no room for compromise. A messenger comes bringing the awaited news. The poisoned dress and diadem have worked: the princess is dead. When Creon saw his daughter's corpse, he embraced her body. The poison then worked against him. The deaths were brutal and terrifying.

Both daughter and father died in excruciating pain, and the bodies were barely recognizable. Medea now prepares to kill her children. She rushes into the house with a shriek. We hear the children's screams from inside the house; the Chorus considers interfering, but in the end does nothing. Jason re-enters with soldiers. He fears for the children's safety, because he knows Creon's friends will seek revenge; he has come to take the children under guard. The Chorus sorrowfully informs Jason that his children are dead. Jason now orders his guards to break the doors down, so that he can take his revenge against his wife for these atrocities. Medea appears above the palace, in a chariot drawn by dragons. She has the children's corpses with her. She mocks Jason pitilessly, foretelling an embarrassing death for him; she also refuses to give him the bodies. Jason bickers with his wife one last time, each blaming the other for what has happened. There is nothing Jason can do; with the aid of her chariot, Medea will escape to Athens. The Chorus closes the play, musing on the terrible unpredictability of fate.

Jason (Greek mythology) - Credo Reference Topic Page: Jason (Greek mythology) Definition: Jason from Philip's Encyclopedia In Greek mythology, hero and leader of the Argonauts. Sent on a quest for the Golden Fleece, Jason sailed aboard the Argo. After surviving many perils, he found the fleece in Colchis and stole it, with the help of the sorceress Medea, whom he married. Summary Article: Jason from Dictionary of Classical Mythology Image from: Sarcophagus depicting Jason and the fire breathing bull at Colchis, 753-476 BC in The Bridgeman Art Library Archive The hero who captained the Argo on the quest for the GOLDEN FLEECE. He was the son of AESON and Alcimede (or Polymede). In the usual version of the myth, Aeson should have become king of Iolcus on the death of his father, Cretheus, but the throne was usurped by his half-brother, PELIAS.

At Jason's birth his parents, fearing for his life, told Pelias that their baby had been born dead, then secretly sent him to Mount Pelion, to be brought up by the wise Centaur CHEIRON, the educator of so many great heroes. Pelias, meanwhile, ruled on, though he knew from an oracle that he must beware of a man, coming from the country and wearing a single sandal, by whom he was destined to die. When he grew to manhood, Jason returned to Iolcus to claim his heritage. He arrived wearing only one sandal, for he had lost the other while he was carrying the goddess HERA, disguised as an old woman, across the flooded River Anaurus. Hera hated Pelias because he had often ignored the honours due to her divinity, and in this way she marked Jason as the instrument of her enemy's destruction, from then onwards aiding him in all his tribulations until the day of Pelias’ death. Pelias recognised his danger as soon as he saw Jason, so he asked him what he would do if he knew from an oracle that a certain man would kill him.

Jason, perhaps inspired by Hera, replied that he would send such a man to fetch the Golden Fleece from King AEETES of Colchis. Thus he sealed his own fate. Pelias at once ordered him to set off on this quest, convinced that he could never return. In Pindar's version, Jason was supported on his arrival in Iolcus by all his kinsmen: not only his father, but his uncles, PHERES (1) and AMYTHAON, and their sons. Jason claimed the throne from Pelias, but offered to let him keep the land and flocks that he had seized. Pelias gave a smooth reply, pretending that the spirit of the dead PHRIXUS, the original owner of the Golden Fleece, kept haunting his dreams, ordering him to fetch the Fleece from Colchis. Since he himself was too old, Jason must go on his behalf. Pelias promised that on the successful completion of this quest, he would hand over the throne to Jason. Again, the king was quite sure that Jason would never survive to claim it. Whichever the motivation for Pelias’ command, Jason, eager for glory, swiftly prepared for the adventure.

ARGUS (4) built the ship Argo under the direction of Athena, and Jason invited the bravest heroes in Greece to accompany him. Joyfully they set sail. Pelias watched them go, and even though his own son ACASTUS was on board, he rejoiced that he would never more be troubled by the threat posed by Jason to his throne and his life. He little knew that this was but the first move in Hera's elaborate plan for his destruction. For the long expedition, beset by dangers, see ARGONAUTS. On the way to Colchis, Jason fathered two sons, EUNEUS and Thoas on the Lemnian queen HYPSIPYLE. Once in Colchis, he succeeded in winning the Golden Fleece (Figs 26 and 27), helped by Aeetes’ daughter, the sorceress MEDEA, who was another of Hera's instruments in her plan for Pelias’ death. Jason returned to Iolcus with Medea as his bride.

Here he found that Pelias had exterminated his family: Aeson, seeing death coming, had asked to take his own life, then had drunk bull's blood, believed by the ancients to be poisonous. Jason's mother had also killed herself, and his infant brother, Promachus, had been killed by Pelias. But Pelias was about to meet his own fate through the witchcraft of Medea, who persuaded his own daughters to kill him: she showed them how she could rejuvenate an old ram by cutting it up and boiling it in a cauldron with magic herbs. When it emerged as a lamb, they were persuaded that she could restore the youth of their ageing father as well. So they killed Pelias, and cut him up and boiled the pieces – and that was the end of him. Despite the death of the usurper, Jason did not become king of Iolcus. After the brutal murder of Pelias, Acastus became king and held splendid funeral games for his father, while Jason and Medea fled from Iolcus and took refuge with CREON (1), the king of Corinth.

Jason later went with other heroes of his generation on the CALYDONIAN BOARHUNT; and he returned to Iolcus once more to help his friend PELEUS gain revenge on Acastus, who had tried to engineer Peleus’ death. With the help of the DIOSCURI they sacked the city and killed Acastus’ wife, Astydameia, and perhaps Acastus too. Medea bore Jason children, sometimes named as MEDUS (1) and Eriopis, or THESSALUS (1), Alcimenes and Tisander, or – most commonly – MERMERUS AND PHERES. They were usually said to have died, killed either by the Corinthians or by Medea herself, either intentionally or unintentionally. In the version made famous by Euripides’ tragedy Medea, Jason deserted Medea and married King Creon's daughter (see GLAUCE). Medea murdered the new bride and her father; but to get the greatest possible revenge on her treacherous husband, she also killed her two sons by him (Fig. 105), because this was the deed that would bring him the greatest pain.

She escaped to Athens in a dragon-chariot sent by her grandfather, the Sun-god Helios, while Jason was left alone, his life in ruins around him (Fig. 106). It was sometimes said that he killed himself in despair, but he was more usually said to have been crushed to death by a beam, falling from the rotting carcase of his once glorious ship, the Argo. There is only a brief mention of Jason and his quest in Homer (Odyssey 12.69–72), where already he is called “dear to Hera”. Our first description of him is in Pindar's Pythian 4, where he strides into Iolcus, clad in a leopard-skin and brandishing two spears, his long hair flowing down his back. Sadly, there is no epic version of his story preserved from the archaic period, so we have lost any clear picture of what would no doubt have been the early Greek conception of him, the heroic achiever of seemingly impossible tasks, like Perseus or Bellerophon or Heracles.

The next major depictions of him that survive are very different: in Euripides’ Medea (431 BC) he has lost all trace of his early heroism, becoming a selfish and obtuse man, concerned with materialistic values and his own social standing; and in Apollonius’ late epic, the Argonautica (3rd century BC), he has become almost a travesty of an epic hero, often timid and confused, and easily prone to doubts and despair, a man who cannot succeed without the help of others, mortal and divine. [Hesiod, Theogony 992–1002; Apollodorus 1.8.2, 1.9.16–28, 3.13.7; Diodorus Siculus 4.40–53; Pausanias 2.3.6–11, 5.17.9–10, 8.11.1–3; Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.1–397, 8.302, Heroides 6, 12; Seneca Medea] Text © Jennifer R.

March 2014, illustrations © Neil Barrett 2014 Idea | The Story of Medea | Headlong The Story of Medea Close Retold by Sarah Grochala | Oct. 17, 2012 Jason (Adam Levy) and Medea (Rachael Stirling) in Medea . Photo: Manuel Harlan. Medea is one of the most fascinating and complex characters in the whole of Greek mythology. She is the ultimate heroine, villain and victim, all rolled into one. Medea was a high priestess, skilled in the art of witchcraft. Her father, King Aeetes, ruled over the land of Colchis. To the Greeks, the land of Colchis was a strange far away place at the end of the world. The Greek god of war, Aries had placed a golden fleece in a grove in Colchis and charged Aeetes with protecting it. The fleece was guarded by a fearsome dragon. Aries had decreed that as long as the fleece stayed in Colchis, the land would prosper and its people would have good fortune. One day, a Greek ship landed on the shores of Colchis.

Aboard this ship, the Argo, was a Greek prince called Jason. On seeing Jason for the first time, Medea fell head over heels in love with him. When Jason arrived at the palace he asked Aeetes to give him the golden fleece. Aeetes had no intention of giving up the fleece, so he set Jason an impossible task. Jason could take the fleece away with him if he could yoke two fire breathing bulls to a plough, plough a field and sow it with the magical teeth of a serpent that had been slain long ago by another Greek hero called Cadmus. Medea knew that Jason would not be able to complete these tasks on his own. She offered him a bargain. If he agreed to marry her, she would help him win the fleece. Jason agreed. Medea gave Jason a lotion to rub on his skin that would protect him from the fiery breath of the bulls. With Medea’s help, Jason managed to yoke the ferocious bulls to the plough and planted the serpent’s teeth. The teeth instantly grew into an army of men who fought each other until every one of them was dead. When King Aeetes saw that Jason had successfully completed the task, he was furious.

He broke his promise and refused to give up the golden fleece. He threatened to burn the Jason’s ship and massacre her crew. Medea quickly led Jason and his men to the grove where the golden fleece hung. She soothed the fearsome dragon with her spells and potions. Jason unfastened the fleece from the tree in which it hung. He ran back to his ship with Medea and her younger brother Apsyrtus. Together they all set sail at top speed for Greece. Aeetes, however, was not prepared to let the fleece go so easily. He sent his ships after Jason and Medea. Aeetes’ ships were faster than Jason’s and he soon caught up with the couple. Medea knew she had to do something drastic to stop her father and save her beloved Jason. She took hold of her brother Apsyrtus and cut him up into pieces. She then dropped the bloody pieces of his corpse into the sea, knowing that her father, stricken with grief, would have to stop to fish them out. Medea and Jason were married on Corcyra with huge celebrations and over their wedding bed they spread the golden fleece. Together they sailed home to Greece.

When they arrived in Jason’s home town of Iolcus, Jason discovered that the king, Pelias, had murdered his parents and his brother. Furious with grief, Jason wanted to launch an immediate armed assault on the city. Medea, however, had a better idea. She told Jason that she could take the city single-handed. She instructed Jason’s crew to hide their boat, while she went to the city alone. When Jason and his crew saw a torch waved on the palace roof, they would know she had succeeded and the town would be theirs for the taking. As Medea approached the city gates, she transformed herself into an old woman. She carried a statue of the goddess of the hunt, Artemis, with her. When she reached the gates, she announced that the goddess Artemis had come to reward Pelias for his piety. Pelias was a very old man and had no children. Artemis, Medea told him, had taken pity on him and would make him young again so that he could have more sons. Pelias was a suspicious man. He didn’t believe Medea. So Medea said that she would prove the truth of the goddess’s promise to him.

She transformed herself back into a young woman, right before Pelias’s very eyes. Next, she took an old ram and cut it up into thirteen pieces. She threw the pieces of ram into a boiling cauldron. Then, she plunged her hand into the boiling cauldron and drew out a live lamb. Pelias was convinced. He lay down on a couch and Medea charmed him to sleep. She gave his three daughters knives and commanded them to cut him up into thirteen pieces like the ram. Then, she told the three girls to take torches up onto the palace roof and invoke the power of the moon to help the cauldron boil. When Jason and his men saw the torches, they rushed into Iolcus and took the town for their own. Medea’s father had once been king of Corinth and it was to Corinth that Jason and Medea went next. Medea claimed the throne for herself and the people of Corinth eagerly welcomed Jason as their king. Medea and Jason decided to settle there. Medea bore Jason seven sons and seven daughters, and they all should have lived happily ever after. Ten years passed, and Jason’s eye began to wander.

He fell in love with Glauce, the young and beautiful daughter of king Creon of Thebes. He decided to divorce Medea and marry Glauce instead. Medea was furious. She still loved Jason deeply. She reminded Jason that the throne of Corinth was rightfully hers, not his. Jason laughed at her saying that the people of Corinth had more respect for him than for her, so he should be king still. Medea pretended to give in to Jason and agreed to leave the town without causing any trouble, but she had other plans. On their wedding day, Medea sent Jason's bride a gift of a poison dress and a poison crown. When Glauce put them on, they burnt into her skin. Her father Creon attempted to rip the dress and crown off Glauce in order to save her, but he too became tangled up in the poisoned dress and they died together in each other’s arms. As a second form of revenge on Jason, Medea murdered all their children. Jason was furious and pursued Medea. Medea’s grandfather Helius, the god of the sun, saved her. Medea climbed into his winged chariot and escaped. Jason was left behind, brideless and childless. Medea fled to Athens.

The king of Athens, Aegeus, agreed to give her shelter and in return Medea offered to give him a son. Aegeus and Medea were married and they had a son called Medus. One day, however, Medea discovered that Aegeus had already had a son, Theseus, with another woman. Medea wanted her son Medus to be Aegeus’s only rightful heir. She invited Theseus to a banquet and put a deadly poison in his cup of wine. Aegeus discovered Medea’s plan and when Theseus raised his cup to make a toast, Aegeus dashed the poisoned wine from his hands. Medea fled the city of Athens and sailed home to Colchis. Her father’s throne had been taken from him by his brother Perses. Medea won her father’s throne back for him and they were reconciled. Some people say that Jason then arrived in Colchis and was reunited with Medea, however, the truth is that Jason was punished by the gods for breaking his promise to Medea. He was doomed to wander homeless from city to city, hated by everyone. One day, he came across his old ship, the Argo.

He sat down in its shadow to remember his past glories and mourn all the disasters that had befallen him. He was so upset, he decided to hang himself from the ship’s prow, but instead the ship’s prow suddenly fell off and killed him. Medea never died. She was made immortal and went to live forever in the happiness of the Elysian fields. Medea facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Medea Medea In Greek mythology, an enchantress and daughter of the king of Colchis who fell in love with Jason when he came to that country. Medea enabled him to slay the sleepless dragon that guarded the golden fleece. She fled from Colchis with Jason, who made her his wife, and from whom she exacted a pledge never to love another woman. They were pursued by her father, but she delayed the pursuit by the cruel expedient of cutting her brother Absyrtus to pieces and strewing his limbs in the sea. Medea accompanied Jason to Greece , where she was regarded as a barbarian.

Having conciliated King Peleus, who was now a very old man, she induced him to try to regain youth by bathing in a magic cauldron she had prepared. So great was his faith in her powers that the old man unhesitatingly plunged into her cauldron and was boiled alive. Her reason for this act of cruelty was to hasten Jason's succession to the throne. In due course, Jason would have succeeded Peleus, but now the Greeks would have none of either him or Medea, and he was forced to leave Iolcos. Growing tired of the formidable enchantress to whom he had bound himself, Jason sought to contract an alliance with Glauce, a young princess. Concealing her real intentions, Medea pretended friendship with the bride-elect and sent her as a wedding present a garment, which as soon as Glauce put it on, caused her to die in the greatest agony. Eventually Medea parted from Jason. Having murdered her two children by him, she fled from Corinth in a car drawn by dragons to Athens , where she married Argeus, by whom she had a son, Medus. But the discovery of an attempt on the life of Theseus forced her to leave Athens.

Accompanied by her son, she returned to Colchis and restored her father to the throne, of which he had been deprived by his own brother Perses. Much literature has been written about the character of Medea. Euripides , Ennius, Aeschylus , and later Pierre Corneille made her the theme of tragedies. Sources: Kingsley, Charles. The Heroes. 1856. Reprint, New York : Dutton, 1963. Cite this article Medea In Greek mythology, Medea was an enchantress and witch who used her magic powers to help Jason* and the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece*. Later, after Jason betrayed her, she used her witchcraft to take revenge. The daughter of Aeëtes, king of Colchis, Medea first saw Jason when he arrived at the king's palace to request the Golden Fleece. According to some accounts, Hera , queen of the gods, persuaded Aphrodite , the goddess of love, to make Medea fall in love with the young hero.

Aeëtes had no intention of handing over the Golden Fleece but pretended that he would do so if Jason successfully performed a series of tasks. He was to yoke fire-breathing bulls to a plow, sow a field with dragons' teeth, and then fight the armed warriors who grew from those teeth. In return for his promise to marry her, Medea gave Jason a magic ointment to protect him from the bulls' fiery breath and told him how to confuse the warriors so that they would fight among themselves. Following Medea's instructions, Jason completed the tasks he had been set. Aeëtes promised to hand over the Golden Fleece, but Medea knew that he would not keep his word. She led Jason and the musician Orpheus* into the sacred grove where the fleece was kept, guarded by a vicious serpent. Orpheus sang the serpent to sleep, enabling Jason to escape with the fleece. Medea then joined Jason and the Argonauts as they set sail in the Argo, pursued by her brother Apsyrtus. When Apsyrtus caught up with them, he promised to let Jason keep the Golden Fleece if he would give up Medea.

Jason refused and killed Apsyrtus. Eventually the Argonauts arrived back at Iolcus, which was ruled by Jason's uncle Pelias. Pelias had gained the throne by killing Jason's father, King Aeson. Medea brought Aeson back to life by boiling his remains in a pot with magical herbs. In this way, she tricked Pelias's daughters into thinking that they could restore their father to youth by cutting him up and boiling him in a pot. Pelias died a gruesome death, and the furious inhabitants of Iolcus drove out Medea and Jason. The couple married and settled in Corinth, where they raised several children. Their happy days ended when Creon, the king of Corinth, offered Jason his daughter Glauce in marriage. Anxious to please the king, Jason abandoned Medea and prepared to marry Glauce. Medea took her revenge by sending Glauce a poisoned wedding gown that burned her alive. By some accounts, before fleeing to Athens , she also killed the children she had borne to Jason. Aegeus, the king of Athens, agreed to protect Medea if she married him and bore him children. They produced a son, Medus (or Medeius), who stood to inherit the throne.

However, Aegeus was unaware that he already had a son, Theseus, from a previous marriage. When Theseus came to Athens to claim the throne, Medea recognized him, persuaded Aegeus that Theseus planned to kill him, and prepared a cup of poisoned wine for the young man. Just as Theseus was about to drink the wine, Aegeus recognized the sword that Theseus carried, realized that Theseus was his son, and knocked the cup from the young man's hand. By some accounts, Medea then fled to a region in Asia that came to be known as Media in her honor and whose inhabitants became known as Medes. See also Argonauts; Golden Fleece; Jason; Theseus. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. MLA Jason - Rise of the Argonauts Wiki Guide - IGN Edit Page Last Edit: February 28, 2014 - 2 years 10 months ago The young king of peaceful Iolcus, an isle of tranquil villages and rolling farmlands, Jason expected to live a quiet life of service to his people.

His sole desire was to marry his childhood friend and beloved fiancé, the Princess Alceme. But on the day of their wedding, an assassin's arrow cut through the clear morning sky and pierced her through the heart. Unwilling to accept this terrible fate, Jason sets out on an epic journey to find and recover the legendary Golden Fleece, a powerful artifact lost for centuries. Along the way, he gathers to his side a crew of the greatest heroes and legends of the Greek world. In his path are fantastic monsters, impossible challenges, and the sinister forces of Hecate, the mysterious titan whose plots seem to confront him at every turn. Like his fathers before him, Jason trained as a weaponmaster, able to wield sword, spear, or mace with equally deadly skill and finesse. At his side, the Iolcan Aspis, shield of his kingdom, is a powerful weapon in its own right, deflecting enemy attacks and smashing foes with concussive force. Whether shattering shields with his mace, impaling a distant foe with hurled spear, or decapitating his enemies with a single slash, Jason's lethal expertise makes him a powerful warrior in any situation.

Edit His Character Story In Rise of the Argonauts the tale plays out slightly different than the modern day tale. Jason is the King of Iolcus and is betrothed to the beautiful Alcmene. Alcmene is killed by an assassin on their wedding day. Jason seals her body in the marital temple and vows not only to avenge her, but to restore her to life. Overcome with grief you/(Jason) vow to do anything to restore her. You hear of the Legendary Golden Fleece, on the lost Isle Of Colchis, which is said to bring the dead back to life. In order to reunite with your beloved you must now prepare for the greatest voyage of all. The Golden Fleece is a magical artifact known to carry the power of resurrection, and it is his intent to restore his beloved Alcmene that drives him on his quest to obtain the Fleece. Setting out upon the newly crafted Argo, Jason recruits the Argonauts; Achilles, Hercules/Heracles, Atalanta, and Pan. Edit Basis: The Greek Mythology Jason was the son of the lawful king of Iolcus, but his uncle Pelias had usurped the throne.

Pelias lived in constant fear of losing what he had taken so unjustly. He kept Jason's father a prisoner and would certainly have murdered Jason at birth, but Jason's mother deceived Pelias by mourning as if Jason had died. Meanwhile, the infant was bundled off to the wilderness cave of Chiron the Centaur. Chiron tutored Jason in the lore of plants, the hunt and the civilized arts. When he had come of age, Jason set out like a proper hero to claim his rightful throne. King Pelias of Iolcos sent Jason on a seemingly impossible quest to bring the Golden Fleece back from distant Colchis. For the quest, Jason assembled a crew of heroes from all over Greece; Argos built for the heroes the largest ship ever constructed, the Argo. Resulting in his becoming known as the leader of the Argonauts and the husband of Medea. Edit Pantheon Records Version On the voyage to Colchis, in addition to other adventures, Jason and his crew of Argonauts became the first humans to pass through the Symplegades (the Clashing Rocks). They also freed Phineus from the curse of the Harpies.

When they arrived at Colchis, King Aeetes demanded that Jason accomplish a series of tasks to get the Golden Fleece: he must yoke a team of fierce, fire-breathing oxen and plow a field with them; then he must sow the teeth of a dragon in the field, and deal with the warlike armored men who sprouted from these "seeds." Finally, he must brave the sleepless dragon who guarded the Fleece. Jason accomplished all these tasks with the help of Medea, Aeetes' daughter, who had fallen in love with him. After obtaining the Golden Fleece, Jason and Medea fled from Colchis, pursued by King Aeetes' men. On their voyage back to Iolcos, they encountered the perils of Scylla and Charybdis and the isle of the Sirens as well as Talos the bronze guardian of Crete. In Iolcos, Medea contrived the murder of King Pelias, after which she and Jason fled to Corinth. In Corinth, after many years of marriage, Jason finally deserted Medea to marry King Creon's daughter.

Medea wreaked a terrible vengeance, killing the bride and Creon, and even murdering her own children. She then escaped, leaving Jason to mourn his losses. Jason was killed years later when he was struck on the head by a timber from the Argo.

Question: In Greek mythology, who murdered Glauce, the bride of Jason, on their wedding day?
Answer: Medea